Cross-talk poses a significant problem for imagers (e.g. CMOS imagers, etc.). Typically, cross-talk may include the collection of photo-carriers (e.g. electrons, etc.) by imager pixels other than the one that was supposed to have collected such photo-carriers. Three types of imager cross-talk typically include spectral cross-talk, optical cross-talk, and diffusion cross-talk. Such cross-talk typically results in images with poor contrast, blurring of edges, improper color perception, non-uniform response over a field-of-view, etc.
Elimination of diffusion cross-talk, in particular, requires the collection of all photo-carriers under the influence of an electric field. A relatively high epitaxial doping that imagers typically require, coupled with continuous voltage scaling, have resulted in imager structures with depletion widths far smaller than the absorption depths of visible light. Thus, for the most part, photo-carriers in epitaxial silicon are often collected at a surface or near-surface p-n junction (or the like) through diffusion, rather than under the influence of a vertical electric field. Thus, since diffusion is an omni-directional process, lateral diffusion typically gives rise to unwanted diffusion cross-talk.
There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.